Youth Communication, the non-profit founded by Keith Hefner in New York City to give young people a voice on the things that matter to them, is now 25 years old – a notable milestone in the notoriously under-funded world of youth media. Lisa R. Rhodes, a former Youth Communication writer herself, looks at how Hefner’s organization has grown and thrived, transforming young lives along the way.

As the ultimate companion animals, dogs have spent centuries perfecting their special skills – whether it’s herding sheep, catching Frisbees, or making humans feel like the center of a kindly universe. That’s the skill most on call in a program for boys in the child welfare system who need to be nudged into reading. Gayle Hargreaves reports.

The Institute of Library and Museum Services and the National Endowment for the Arts' new "Big Read" initiative will award grants generally ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 to more than 100 communities for programs that encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.

The Alliance for Excellent Education hosts its 2006 Breakfast Forums on Promising Practices in Secondary Education in Washington, DC.

Every year on March 2, the birthday of children's author Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), the National Education Association celebrates Read Across America Day.

The 15th Annual National Conference on Family Literacy will be held in Lousiville, Kentucky March 19-21.

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy, given by the U.S. Department of Education, finds a significant decline in the average American college graduate’s literacy in English in the past ten years. The Department says the findings underscore a critical need for high school reform.

The Reading Recovery Council of North America, Inc. is a not-for-profit association of Reading Recovery professionals, advocates, and partners. The Council provides a network of opportunities for leadership and professional development. It is an advocate for Reading Recovery throughout North America. Nearly 11,000 individuals have become members of the Council since its establishment in 1995.

The Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA), a special project of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, began assessing performance at the district level in 10 urban districts in 2002 with reading and writing assessments of fourth- and eighth-grade reading and mathematics. During the last two years, seven of the 10 districts posted larger gains than their peers nationwide in fourth-grade reading; eight districts posted larger gains than their peers nationwide in fourth-grade math; and, in eighth-grade, the percentage of students with basic math skills has increased in seven districts more than it has across the nation. In many of the systems, minority students are outperforming their peers elsewhere.

"Changing the World One Child at a Time Through Reading" is the theme for the 2006 National Reading Recovery & K-6 Classroom Literacy Conference.